All posts by New England Historic Genealogical Society

About New England Historic Genealogical Society

Since 1845, the New England Historic Genealogical Society has been the country's leading research center for genealogists and family historians of every skill level. Today we provide more than 25,000 members worldwide with access to some of the most important and valuable research tools anywhere. The NEHGS library and archive, located at 99 Newbury Street in downtown Boston, is home to more than 28 million items, including artifacts, documents, records, journals, letters, books, manuscripts, and other items dating back hundreds of years.

Generatio longa, vita brevis

Family Stories, News, Research Methods

NEHGS building at 99-101 Newbury StreetWelcome to Vita Brevis, the blog of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. Vita Brevis is designed to offer the reader short essays by the Society’s expert staff on their own research as well as news of the greater genealogical community.

As the nation’s oldest genealogical Society, the NEHGS collection has always contained books and manuscripts on other subjects than New England; now, with its growing database collection, NEHGS is truly a national – and an international – resource for family history.

Vita Brevis will include short posts on research methods – applicable to a variety of genealogical subjects – as well as posts on results. Like a mosaic, these posts will, in time, form a new collection for the genealogical researcher to explore.